MAG and Modern Warfare 2

I wanted to talk about the MAG beta today, but I found it unplayable. Zipper isn’t known for their FPS prowess, so I’m not going to complain about it too much. I found the bullet clipping to be reminiscent of problems we had in PC games in 1997. Maybe they’ll add bullet penetration, fix the clipping planes, and move the position the bullets fire from to the position a person would expect. Maybe all of that can be patched. Maybe these aren’t the final builds of the maps. Or maybe MAG is a one trick pony and isn’t worth any further discussion.

Most of my gaming time has been spent in Modern Warfare 2. I’ve gotten to the point in my character’s progression where I got tired of CoD 4: Modern Warfare. The guns I like are unlocked with all the tweaks at the ready. In CoD 4 I had a clan going with me, keeping me engaged night after night. This time around I’m only keeping my skills sharp because of the LAN circuit.

The reason I’m writing this post now and not playing MW2 is quite simple. Infinity Ward fucked up. I hate to be that guy, but the hacking is far too common place. My praise for the game gets nullified every time some dillhole with too much free time one-shots my entire team in under a second. Infinity Ward will never be able to stop all the hacks. It hasn’t been done for any game in history. If only someone figured out a way to make players responsible for filtering out this kind of nonsense. Oh, that’s right, they did in 1996 when Quake offered dedicated servers.

The PC gaming industry evolved a specific way for a reason. We don’t rely on Punk Buster to keep out the riffraff. We rely on people who love the game enough to spend a lot of their time ensuring people have a good time with them.

After this LAN party I think I’ll be back in Counter-Strike for my FPS needs unless I’m playing with at least two friends.

Borderlands Review

Borderlands, a FPS by Gearbox, is the next game in secession to emulate Diablo 2. That may give an idea as to what kind of game it is, a pure shoot-em-up  explode-orama mixed with a piles-of-loot dungeon crawler. Borderlands executes this quite well, well enough to earn several game of the year nominations (and awards, depending on where you look).

The idea behind Borderlands is as follows: circle strafe while killing dudes, who then drop better and more creative weapons to allow for more entertaining ways to kill the next mob of dudes. That’s the game. If it were played in any other way, the other way would be the wrong way to play it. That’s it’s highest peak, though there are quite a few problems with it.

In their circle strafing fun, Gearbox decided it needed more depth, so they added an incredibly useless story to tie the quest lines together. They just added some lady’s face in the top right corner of the screen, which is, of course, completely ignored while circle strafing and killing dudes. The story itself is hard to follow, and forgotten shortly after each dialogue.

The 87 bazillion guns was a selling point for most people, and rightfully so. The player was guaranteed to never receive a duplicate item, unless it was from a boss. The weapons could do anything from starting fires, bouncing off walls, shooting in certain formations, and all sorts of combinations. If this system was not implemented, there would be no motivation for anyone to play it. Borderlands would be just a husk of a standard fps, that did nothing for anything in gaming.

The problem with the weapon algorithm is after forty hours of play, the player figures out each gun is exactly the same as the next in terms of how it works, the only difference is how flashy it is. If the number of possible guns were forgotten, how creative would they really be? There’s a few elemental mods, a couple of interesting bullet spread formations, and not much else. It’s really just your standard weapon lineup of shotgun, pistol, sniper rifle, assault rifle, rocket launcher. Realizing this makes the game’s entertainment value drop immensely.

Despite the game’s many flaws and shortcomings, you’ll be happy to play it for a good fifty-sixty hours, especially if you can run co-op with friends. I might add, the PC copy of it is a broken console port, and if you were to buy it; definitely go for the 360 version. The PC SKU is still fun, but the bugs and Gamespy client are a bit overbearing.

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection

This is the last scheduled post on No Hype Reviews. In a time where I’m thinking a lot about my past and my history with video games it seems serendipitous that Sega sent me a copy of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360. Quite a few games on this disc were among the first fifty or so that I ever played.

Technically the games work more-or-less as intended. I can play the first few stages of every16-bit  Sonic game on muscle-memory alone, and I only noticed a few inconsistencies. On some other “ports” of older games the graphics seem to look either smudged or heavily pixelated, that wasn’t as much of an issue here. Everything looks roughly like it did in the 16-bit days, which I can appreciate.

Let’s talk about the selection of titles. You’ll be getting 40 Genesis, Masters, and arcade games including the unlockables. The games are all first party titles, which were not always my favorite back in the day. An “Ultimate” collection in my books would include titles from Acclaim and Electronic Arts among others, but considering the limitations of reality I’m content with the choices.

What this collection reminds me of is how brutal games were in the 90s. RPGs like Phantasy Star and Fatal Labrynth provide no explanation if what you’re doing – you’re not even outfitted with starting gear. Games like Comix Zone, Shinobi 3, and Streets of Rage are much more difficult (and thus beating them feels like a greater achievement) than their grandchildren (God of War, Devil May Cry, etc). The collection includes several platformers that were not Sonic. Vectorman, Alex Kidd, Kid Chameleon, Flicky (I can now say Flicky games have always sucked, even when it was a Joust clone) and a few others.  If you’ve got a soft spot for 2d platformers this collection has you covered.

I didn’t spend enough time with each of the titles individually to say anything meaningful about them. I can tell you Sonic, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Shinobi, and Comix Zone have held up to the test of time.  Those 12 games more than justify the $30 price tag to me.

I am disapointed that the Sonic and Knuckles title doesn’t couple with Sonic 3, let alone any other game. Some of the other collections have done it, and if you have not experienced those games in tandem you owe it your yourself to seek out that experience first.

Beyond Good and Evil Review

Beyond Good and Evil is a stealth adventure game. You play as Jade, a freelance photojournalist hired by an underground movement to expose the tyrannous nature of the ruling government.

It’s important to have realistic expectations for this game. It’s five years old, and the jaggy lines prove it. The game play can be frustrating for stealth newbies and too simple for Metal Gear vets. You can see the end coming a long ways off. Your primary partner in the game is annoying. You will be finished with it in under 15 hours. I did it in 10. The game was built for consoles, if you get it on PC you may get frustrated by the controls.

The art direction is fantastic. Hillys feels like a world that evolved. There are maybe half a dozen sentient species roaming around, each have their own cultures. The world is a collection of islands, so naturally you cruise around in hovercrafts. Jade looks like an athletic woman without crossing the line into Laura Croft territory.

The story is great. By the end I did have a (thin) emotional connection to every significant character presented to me. To be honest most of them annoyed me, some I hated (Francis!!), but I did enjoy some of them (Pey’j and Jade). At certain points the story started to tug on my heart strings.

After completing a mission a mob of citizens Hillys take to the street in protest of the Government. Each mission adds to the gaggle of protesters which is a small touch, but it really lends credence to the notion that you are changing the world.

As a freelance photographer you make extra money by cataloging the planet’s remaining animals. When broken down it’s simply a collect-fest, but as it’s presented it feels fresh to the adventure genre.

Those positive points are strong enough for me to mostly wash away the negative above. I think most of you will feel the same.

Skip it: I’m guessing you’ve been doing this for five years. You are wrong.

Rent it: If you can still find a place that rents this, go for it. The game is like $10 on Steam though, so the risk/reward ratio isn’t very favorable.

Buy it: It’s $10. We’re entering a bit of a dry spot in the calendar. The recommendation is obvious.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Review

I love Spider-Man. I love Venom. When I was a lad the centerpiece of my comic collection was Amazing Spider-Man #300. With that in mind I am very sad to say technical issues and poor game design weigh this title down.

The first problem lies in the controls. You’re given a lock-on function to help direct Spider-Man’s unwieldy distance attacks, but it never seems to lock on to the target you want. In nearly every instance that I came upon a horde of enemies my area of effect attack was directed on one of the edge baddies, not the one in the center which would be the most effective.

As the game begins to get serious you’ll find yourself saddled with frequent escort and/or defense missions. Unfortunately your ally AI seems fairly underpowered. They try to alleviate the issue by allowing you to call upon other super-heroes to help you out, but they’re generally useless at threat assessment and thus focus their attacks on the closest enemies. You are given the option to baby sit them, but I found myself preoccupied with my own fight.

Boss fights often conclude with quick time events. It’s been so long since I’ve seen QTEs done right I’ve nearly forgotten why they are so prevalent to begin with. With Web of Shadows you’ll find a loose association with the button’s assigned function and what Spidey does during these events. Since Treyarch was aiming to show his speed and agility you might feel there is not enough time to hit the correct button in some sequences – yet they felt conscious enough of the issue that a few of the warnings hang on screen longer than it should before accepting input.

The theme of the game’s story is Spider-Man’s struggle with morality. They chose to express that struggle by interrupting a cut-scene with a binary option. I’m not quite sure why you’d choose one over the other, it doesn’t seem to directly impact game play. The extra animation/voice work seems like money that could have been put toward polishing the various glitches.

Finally: the camera. I haven’t wrestled with a camera this much on any other game this generation. When you’re swinging along it works just fine, but God help you if the auto target selects an enemy other than the one you’re looking at. In some cases (specifically on high buildings and low ground) the camera will switch between all the way up and all the way down, with no in between. A more common way to cause the camera to spaz out is to fight on a wall near a corner and the ground. I almost enjoyed this glitch, as it gives you something more akin to the web slinger’s perspective, but if it were to happen for more than a few seconds I’m sure I’d puke.

Skip it: I cannot in good faith recommend casual Spider-Man fans grab this.

Rent it: If you still read the comics regularly and have purchased other Activision Web Head games, take a hint and try this one first.

Buy it: If you love Spider-Man and have a high tolerance to bugs, escort missions, and QTEs.

Survival/Horror Demo Day

In the last 12 hours I’ve nabbed two demos, F.E.A.R. 2 off Steam and Resident Evil 5 from Xbox Live. I’d like to take a minute now to save you, the reader, some time later.

I played F.E.A.R. 2 alone at 2 am, in the dark with headphones turned way up. I suggest that’s how you approach it. I was pretty scared for a while, hesitant to open doors and progressing very slowly. Then I realized these ‘ghosts’ respond to bullets. By the time I was getting ok with the jHorror movie feel of the game I found myself in a giant mech suit which was nearly indestructible. I think this demo is worth checking out.

For RE5 I was playing mid day, with the room as dark as I made it. I don’t think playing at night would help this game since the story is set in daylight. I haven’t played RE since the second installment of the series. I’m a little surprised by how nicely the game has cleaned up for the current generation of consoles. That said, killing people that have plants growing from their necks isn’t very scary in a video game. If it were a book and I had to imagine what the characters are seeing this story being a decent read. With the gory details explicitly drawn out for me I wasn’t able to connect with the events of the story. In other words: This was not scary. The controls don’t really lend themselves to the close quarter situations you’ll find yourself in. I’m going to say it’s okay to pass up this demo.

Tom Clancy's EndWar

Endwar is a massively multiplayer RTS made by Ubisoft. It features three different factions that go at it for total world domination. The Americans are very well rounded; fast, strong, decently armored. The Europeans are extremely fast but are a bit weaker and die easily. Russians are slow lumbering and deadly as all hell. I played only the Russians since you have to pick a faction and stick with it until the war is over.

The controls for Endwar are what really set it apart from other RTS games. Endwar is completely voice activated, you tell your units what to do via your headset and they do it. The only thing you need your actual controller for is the camera.  The voice command system is all you will use and it works extremely well.  All of the commands are easy to remember and really makes the game what it is.  Your units will normally understand what you say to them, but sometimes it is necessary to talk really slow and enunciate certain commands, especially for those with deep accents.  I had no problems telling my units what to do outside of mistakes on my own part.

The environments in Endwar are nice looking, and destructible. Trees can get in the way of the camera if you are following infantry but usually isn’t too much of a problem.

Gameplay in Endwar is like a huge game of rock paper scissors…transports kill gunships, gunships kill tanks, tanks kill transports. Of course there are other units. Infantry can destroy pretty much anything if they are under cover, but trying to get your infantry people in to cover is difficult as they don’t seem to understand that they need to hide from bullets coming toward them. Infantry is necessary as they are the only ones able to secure and upgrade uplinks.  Uplinks are the control points in Endwar and determine winners and losers.  A controlled uplink will turn your teams color, and an upgraded uplink will allow you to call in air strikes or use your special ability.  Artillery is the end all weapon, and is quite overpowered. Artillery can shoot damn near across the entire map and will destroy anything except gunships if they see it first.

All the units will level up eventually, making them faster, stronger, and generally better. But they can also be killed. If your unit goes down, it calls for an evacuation, but it is still vulnerable and can be destroyed if your enemy decides to continue  attacking it. You can also upgrade your units using the money you get for fighting to give them special abilities which can make them more suited to your play style.

Endwar relies heavily on its multiplayer. When you can find a group of people it can be massive fun. It does depend deeply on how good your allies are. Multiplayer is completely unforgiving and one tiny mistake can cost everyone the match. The balance in multiplayer is awkward, as it seems you can always find a full team, but there is no enemy anywhere to fight against sometimes. This is not Endwar’s fault but is annoying none the less.

Skip it: If you aren’t a fan of the RTS games or not very good at multitasking and keeping track of things across the board. You will get frustrated and I recommend you skip it.

Rent it: If you like RTS its always a good idea to try it before you buy it.

Buy it: Hardcore RTS fans will love this game, and it delivers a whole new experience

Update to Prince of Persia Review

I read today that Gamestop is selling Prince of Persia for $40. There are worse things you could do with $40; but if you can wait for it to hit the $20-$30 mark you’ll be happier with your purchase.

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia is the re-imaging of a re-imagined series produced by Ben Mattes and the Ubisoft Montreal Prince of Persia team. You play as a wandering vagabond who stumbles upon a princess who needs to save the world from her religion’s evil-doer deity. The gameplay consists of wall running/parkour and spatial/timing puzzles similar to the previous titles of the same name.

There are a few technical flaws. You’ll find invisible, climbable walls in the middle of your path from time to time, amongst other bugs. I once had to restart my 360 because I came at a jump a little to fast and blasted through the textures, leaving me hanging from a ledge in the middle of the sky box. That aside the game performs fine.

The controls take a little getting used to if you played the earlier titles. Instead of holding a button to wall run, for example, you just need to jump to the wall, the running is automatic. It takes away a good portion of the challenge during the puzzle/exploration segments of the game. This is such a problem in some segments I felt like I was playing a quick time event without the big, blatant indicator for which button to push.

Speaking of QTEs, combat – especially boss fights – seem to abuse that mistake of a mechanic. In between these immersion wrecking moments you’ll find a very competent one on one combat engine; which is to be expected as this game is based on Assassin’s Creed’s engine. The major upgrade here is in the combo system. The combo animations slow down when it’s time for another button press, but since any option will do something it narrowly dodges the definition of a QTE and allows some feeling of freedom.

Finally I have to complain about the physics. I remember playing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and being awestruck by how well the prince felt apart of his environment. He had a sense of weight, and while his moves were a bit more than a human could actually do, it felt believable. This prince violates more laws of Newtonian Physics than Quantum Mechanics. He crawls on ceilings with ease, can give himself enough momentum to jump at least his height using only his fingers, and in some cases he can jump several time his height from a stand still.

Finally a word on the story: the after-the-credits ending makes absolutely no sense other than to set up a trilogy. Listen guys, if you can’t create two other stories as implausible as this one you’ve got issues. Wrap it up next time.

Skip it: While this game is flawed, it’s not particularly bad. If you didn’t like Assassin’s Creed this one isn’t much better.

Rent it: I feel a weeks rental is all you’ll need out of this game. There’s no real replay value, and the story isn’t worth $60.

Buy it: Fans of Ubisoft Montreal’s work only.

Sonic Unleashed

As a huge fan of 16 bit era Sonic games I come to this title with a bit of prejudice. I miss the games that were about timing, pattern recognition, and improving times. If Sonic Unleashed where one game I might be pacified, but not entirely satisfied. It’s too bad Sonic Unleashed is two games, squished together like liver pate.

For some reason Robotnik (Or are they calling him Eggman now for real?) decided the best way to dominate Mobius is to blow it apart, releasing a ’spirit’ that has mysterious magical energy. The only living creature impacted by this ancient spirit is Sonic, who now turns into a warehog at night.

The warehog levels are platform/brawler style, ala The Bouncer, but with a slightly worse combat system. To be straight with you, these levels share characteristics with the ooze you find in the bottom of a dumpster that was recently the home of rabid raccoons who forage the sewers for human refuse in order to maintain some semblance of life. I won’t go into any details; and if you decide to purchase the game I encourage you to pay someone to unlock the level select for you. That ‘half’ of the title is more of a chore than a game, and it should be avoided if at all possible.

That’s not to say this game is without merits. The best Sonic level I’ve played in 14 years finds it’s home in this title. They’re not all perfect, but when they get a level right it feels exactly like the games of old. For the other 20-something hedgehog fan out there it might be worth your time to get that level; but you’ll probably want to wait for this game to hit the bargain bin. It shouldn’t be too long.

There’s simply too much filler to recommend this game for general consumption.

Skip it: If you never owned a Genesis you are correct to ignore this series.

Rent it: Masochists, people who want to affirm their hatred of the series, and curious fans who are want to witness a glimmer of hope.

Buy it: I may very well be the ideal demographic for this game and I’m upset that I paid full price.

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